1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to weapons and projectiles. Specifically, the invention is a frangible bullet having a copper jacket and a core comprising a plurality of lead rods which have been compressed into irregular shapes. The bullet shape is a truncated cone with a large, flat, open point, wherein the jacket extends slightly beyond the core. The design provides for excellent energy transfer from the bullet to the target, and prevents overpenetrating the target. The design also assists in penetrating soft body armor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several past inventors have successfully designed a bullet which either fragmented or mushroomed inside the target to improve energy transfer between the bullet and target, and to prevent the bullet from overpenetrating the target. Such fragmentation or mushrooming increases shock and tissue damage to the target, resulting in humane kills during hunting, and allowing those lawfully defending themselves to quickly stop an attack. The bullet deformation also protects bystanders in two ways. First, the bullet is less likely to exit the target, injuring anyone who may be behind the target. Second, if the bullet strikes a hard surface, a substantial part of its energy will be used up in deforming the bullet, rather than causing a ricochet.
Other inventors have developed armor piercing projectiles, which are useful for law enforcement officers and others who must occasionally neutralize well-protected opponents. Most bullets designed primarily for penetration, however, deform very little on impact, resulting in smaller wound channels, less shock, and higher risks of overpenetration and ricochets.
The current invention's unique feature is that, unlike most of the prior art, it has the ability to maximize both energy transfer and penetration of soft armor, while also preventing overpenetration of the target and ricochets.
One example of a fragmenting bullet is U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,306, issued to Otto W. Schneider et al, describing a bullet having a core comprising compressed metal wires, and a copper jacket. Unlike the present invention, Mr. Schneider's bullet was designed to fragment while in flight, hitting the target with a shotgun-like pattern. Schneider's preferred embodiment is claimed to produce a 5 ft. dia. pattern at 25 yds. This invention would be unwise to use in many circumstances, because the individual projectiles lack sufficient mass for adequate penetration, and dangerous, because bystanders could be struck by fragments which miss the target.
Another bullet using a wire core was described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,989, issued to Torrey L. Briese. The bullet comprises a core of bent, irregularly shaped lead wires, with a copper jacket having a hollow point. A standard hollow point has cylindrical hole in the nose, going about halfway down the length of the bullet. Unlike a standard hollow point or the present invention, Briese's invention uses a hollow section underneath the jacket. This bullet is designed only for fragmentation, not penetration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,874, issued to Eric A. Nelson, discloses a nonlead training bullet wherein the wire core is held in place by a copper jacket along the base, but the entire nose portion of the wire core is exposed. Because the bullet avoids the use of lead, it has insufficient density to be used for hunting or self-defense. Unlike the current invention, this bullet is specifically designed to avoid any penetration.
Another training bullet is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,920, issued to John M. Hallis et al. The bullet comprises a core made from twisted nontoxic metal wires, surrounded by a copper jacket with only the tip exposed. It is intended to prevent both ricochets and lead contamination during practice. Mr. Hallis' patent, like Mr. Nelson's aforementioned patent, would lack sufficient density for hunting or defensive use.
Other frangible practice projectiles include U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,054, issued to Sankaranarayanan Ashok, describing a projectile with a core comprising powdered metal which has been compressed, sintered, and cooled; U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,637, issued to James A. Snide, describing a bullet with a core comprising a plurality of individual sections of polymeric material filled with metal; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,642, issued to Harley L. West, describing a lead-free training bullet comprising powdered metal within a polyester matrix.
One of the most commonly used frangible self defense bullets is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,911,820 and 3,972,286, both issued to Jack Y. Canon. These patents describe a bullet comprising a hollow copper jacket with a plastic tip, filled with small, heavy metal spheres in a viscous or semi-solid fluid. When the bullet hits the target, the jacket is stripped away from the core, causing the core to spread out in a shotgun-like pattern inside the target. This bullet provides excellent energy transfer, protection from ricochet (by fragmenting instead of bouncing), and protection from overpenetration. It performs poorly when penetration is required, however.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,657, issued to Melvin Zaid, discloses a very unique and useful frangible bullet. Mr. Zaid's bullet is made from cement or plaster, and is intended to be lethal at ranges of only a very short distance, and nonlethal beyond that distance. This bullet is useful in situations where penetration must be kept to an absolute minimum, such as on an airplane. Conversely, the current invention is specifically designed to penetrate under certain conditions.
At the other end of the projectile performance spectrum are those designed for penetration instead of energy transfer. One example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,383, issued to Steven G. Fishman et al, which describes a bullet having a core made by compressing tungsten wires surrounded by steel powder at a temperature slightly below the melting point of the steel, under high pressure, hardening the resulting rod, and then machining the bullets from the rod. The resulting projectile will penetrate whatever it hits with little deformation, resulting in deep penetration and a small diameter wound channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,995, issued to Albert P. Levitt, described a penetrator for an armor piercing projectile similar to Mr. Fishman's aforementioned patent. Mr. Levitt's bullet is made by first combining thin tungsten fibers into a thicker fiber by heating them to a molten state, coating the resulting thicker fiber with one of several other metals, placing the coated fibers parallel to each other in a mold, and heating them to combine them. A projectile comprising such a penetrator, like the Fisher bullet, will deeply penetrate most targets, with little bullet deformation and therefore a small wound channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,994, issued to William Alexander, discloses a bullet which is claimed to be both armor piercing and frangible. The bullet comprises a copper jacket containing several flechettes pointed in the direction of travel of the bullet, and a nose cap. The patent claims that, on impact with soft body armor, the nose cap and jacket separate from the core. The flechettes have a high length to diameter ratio, and therefore have a high energy to cross sectional area ratio, making it easy for them to penetrate armor. Unlike the present invention, to penetrate, the flechettes are not compressed into the jacket and thus depend solely upon separation from the jacket so that, once separated, they do not tumble when they hit armor in order to penetrate. In contrast, the present invention utilizes the jacket to assist in penetration.
In addition to designs for bullets, two examples of inventions for delivering submunitions from a missile are U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,416, issued to Thomas E. Dilworth, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,882, issued to Gerard Dieval. Other foreign patents only generally related to bullet design include German Pat. No. 72,702 and Russian Pat. No. 2,002,033.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a fragmenting bullet solving the aforementioned problems is desired.